A spokesman for Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., said the company had discovered an unexpected erratum, and has not been selling the 900-MHz Xeon part since mid-April. A fixed 900-MHz Xeon should be available by August.

Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., and other manufacturers have been using 700-MHz Xeon processors instead. The 900-MHz Xeon ships with only a 2-Mbyte level-2 cache option; buyers of the 700-MHz Xeon can purchase either a 1- or 2-Mbyte version.

The error was what the spokesman called a “rare” write failure on an internal task register. The error created an internal loop, and the need to reboot the system. “You know how enterprise is,” the spokesman said. “You need to take all precautionary measures.”

In mid-June, Intel revised the stepping of its 700-MHz Xeon micoprocessors from an “a” to a “b” stepping to correct errata and allow the introduction of higher processor frequencies, according to Intel’s Web site. The 900-MHz Xeon was not listed as part of the affected changes; the spokesman said that the fixed 900-MHz Xeon will not be manufactured as part of a new stepping, but what he described as a “tweak” to the manufacturing process.

The 700-MHz Xeon was not affected, according to a followup email sent by the Intel spokesman. “The issue has only been found in a stress-testing lab environment, and at–and above–the 900-MHz speed when it was stressed out,” he wrote.

Furthermore, no new large-cache Pentium III Xeons are due as Intel moves its server offerings into the Pentium 4 “Foster” generation, he added.

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